Two's Company, Three's a Murder
by Bohemian Punk Chic
Summary: What do you get when you add a dash of romance, a pinch of murder, and betrayal, all sprinkled lightly with jealousy? Two's Company, Three's a Murder is your answer. GSR and CW [WIP]
1. Rumors

**A/N: Okay, I guess I should start off and say this is my first CSI Fan Fiction. I have posted other stories on this site but not CSI. To be honest, I just got into the show about a week ago. But, I've rented most of the DVDs and seen most of the epi's from season 1 and some from 2 and 3. My friend Rachael helped me get up to date on what's happened and I think this should be good. But that's up to you.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or anything related to it. **

_**Two's Company, Three's a Murder**_

Chapter One - Rumors 

Catherine sauntered into the break room, bye the look on her face you could tell she had a piece of juicy gossip. That was the great thing about the saucy strawberry blonde; she was never in short supply of gossip. And today, the gossip was not only huge, but a little disturbing.

"Boy," she said, addressing Warrick, Nick, and Greg, "I do believe hell has frozen over." She said down backwards in one of the hard plastic chairs.

"What's up now?" Warrick asked laughing.

"Prepare yourselves, this is quite disturbing. According to my sources, Ecklie has a girlfriend." Nicks mouth flew open and Warrick mimicked his actions. By far, Greg's reaction was the most amusing. Greg had just taken a bite of his tuna fish sandwich when Catherine dispersed the news and in no time Greg was disgustingly spitting it out.

"You're shitting me, right?" asked Nick, mouth still open in shock.

"C'mon, would I lie to you boys?" The shot glances at her. "Okay, scratch that, would I lie to you guys about something this big?" They nodded in mutual understanding and repulsion.

"What's so big?" asked Sara as she walked into the room.

"Ecklie has a girlfriend," replied Warrick.

"That is disgusting," said Grissom as he walked into the room with a stack of assignments in his hands, "but it is not our problem." Everyone faced him and waited for their assignments to be handed out.

"Catherine, Warrick, and Nick, you three have a DB. A girl who looks to be in her late twenties was found in a dumpster for the Olive Garden just a half mile off of the Strip." All three nodded and headed out. Grissom looked at Sara and proceeded to tell her of their case.

"Sara, you, Greg, and I have a missing persons report. A three year old girl was taken from her home by her father after he severely beat the mother and knocked her unconscious." Greg nodded and headed out to the lab. Grissom stayed back and sat down next to Sara who was quiet.

"Are you going to be okay with this Sara? I can take you off the case if you want." She looked up at him a little dazed and smiled.

"I'll be fine Griss. I can't let my past control me forever." Grissom smiled and stood up. He knew he was getting too close and was scared that if Sara got too emotional on this case he might get too close to her through comforting. But he also knew that he needed Sara for this case. There was no way to get around that.

"Hey, how 'bout you go out to the car and I'll be there in a minute? I have to get something." Grissom nodded and left the room. Sara closed the door and felt her knees buckle and send her to the ground.

"Get a hold of yourself Sara, you've dealt with these cases before, you can do it again," Sara told herself. As much as she didn't want to appear weak in front of Grissom she had to remind herself that this was not about him. This was about a little girl that needed her help and a battered wife trying to find her daughter.

When Catherine, Warrick, and Nick arrived at the scene they grimaced a little at the scene. The girl looked to be in her late twenties but they would have to wait for fingerprinting to verify. She had short blonde hair but it was covered so much blood you would have thought it was red. From the look of things, she had been shot in the head twice and Catherine had the suspicion there were more bullet wounds.

Warrick looked in the dumpster and found a green Coach purse spattered with blood. Inside was a wallet with three hundred dollars but no ID. The killer wanted to make sure no one knew who she was. Warrick bagged the purse and walked over to Nick who was looking at something on the sidewalk.

"See this?" Nick said pointing to large blood spatter. "It's looks as though she was shot here and then dragged to the dumpster." Nick pointed out a faint, smeared, trail on blood that led in the direction of the dumpster.

"You know, even after all my years doing this, it still sickens me at how cruel people can be," replied Warrick as he stood up and began walking over to Catherine. "Find anything?" he asked her as she started taking photos of the scene.

"Yah, I think I found faint traces of bloody footprints on that side of the dumpster," she said, pointing to the left side of the dumpster." Catherine led him over to the spot. "But look at this, their two different prints. And this one looks like a pair of high heels." Warrick nodded and took copies of the prints to take back to the lab. Catherine, after taking a moment to watch Warrick, walked over to where Nick was and took a photo of the spatter.

"Catherine, I think two people did this."

"Why do you say so?" She already knew of her evidence that suggested the same theory but maybe he had a bit more evidence.

"Well, over here on this window," he pointed to the window of the small drug store, "there are some fingerprints. The window looks as though it was just cleaned so I'm assuming the prints are from the killers. But, I took a look at them with the magnifying glass and they don't look like it's from the same person. I mean, it was a rough look but they don't look the same. I already took a print so I'll take that back to the lab and have Sofia take a look and see if we have the people in the computers." Catherine patted him on the back.

"Good job Nick. You're never one to look something over, are you?"

"You know us Texans, we never do anything half way." Warrick felt a twinge of jealousy as he watched Catherine and Nick laugh at their own little joke.

Grissom and Sara arrived at the scene and walked inside the house. The mother, Heather Scott, was sitting on her suede couch wrapped in a thick red blanket. She had a large bruise around her eye but it paled in comparison to the large gash that started at her left eyebrow and ran up into her hairline. It was still fresh and bleeding quite profusely. Sara grimaced at the scene.

"Hi, Mrs. Scott. I'm Gil Grissom and this is my partner Sara Sidle. We're here to help you find your daughter." The woman had light brown hair that was filled with tangles. Here deep blue eyes were filling with tears at the thought that her daughter might be dead.

"Please, call me Heather?" Grissom nodded. Sara was walking around the house viewing the damage.

"Okay, Heather. I must ask you, why were you passed out when your husband, James, took off with your daughter?" Heather, who had been crying, collected her composure.

"He and I were yelling. I had come home to find him hitting Missy, or Melissa, with a belt. He said she has talked back to him, which was ridiculous since she's only three. I grabbed her away and we started fighting. He grabbed the toaster because it was the closest, and threw it at me. That's where I got this cut," she said pointing to her head.

"When did all the abuse start?" asked Sara, finally coming out of her daze.

"About five years ago."

"So he was still hitting you while you were pregnant?" Heather looked at her hands that rested in her laps.

"Yes." Her voice was low, and barley audible, but Sara heard it. She shook her head in frustration and stomped her foot.

"Why? Why didn't you get out? Why didn't you take your daughter and leave?" Sara asked the questions but she knew the answer.

"I was scared. If I left him he would have killed me. If I told he would have killed me. I couldn't tell anyone. It's not something I liked, living is fear is horrible. I was just trying to protect my daughter." Sara looked at Grissom and signaled for him to leave. He took off with the fingerprinting kit and headed into the daughters room, out of earshot.

"I know what it's like to live in fear," Sara said to the shaking mother. "And I understand why you were reluctant to do anything, my mother was the same way." Heather looked up at the vulnerable brunette sitting next to her.

"You were abused?"

"Yes. My mother and I were both abused. And, even though what you did was not the best idea, it was better than what my mother did and you have my respect because of that." Heather could tell that she should not persist on asking what her mother had done. She had a good enough assumption.

"Sara, Miss Sidle, do you think she's alive? Do you think my little Missy is still alive?" Sara looked at her with saddened eyes.

"I don't know. I really don't." Grissom was looking out of the door of the little girls room and watched the whole conversation. He could tell Sara was going to become emotional, but he also knew she would be determined. Deep down in the pit of his stomach he felt sorrow for Sara, but if he let that feeling surface, he knew he just might regret it.


	2. Bubbling Emotions

Disclaimer: Ok, three things. First of all, why the hell if I owned ANY of  
the characters from CSI would I waste my time writing fan fictions (George  
Eads. Drool.)! Second of all if I owned CSI, Grissom would have gotten his head out of his ass already and confessed his undying love to Sara. Last but not least,  
Ecklie and Sofia would either die, get fired, or get their butts beaten down  
by the swing and the night shift. All three work for me. But we don't live   
an alternate universe now do we (Ok I might sometimes but don't you DARE rub  
it in). 

Chapter Two – Bubbling Emotions 

After a talk with Ecklie, Nick headed out to find Sofia. The lab tech that was supposed to be working with the fingerprints for this case apparently came down with the flu and did not know when she would be back. Ecklie suggested that Sofia work on the case since Grissom and Sara had Greg to process the evidence from their missing persons case.

"Sofia!" yelled Nick as he saw the blonde turning the corner as she talked to Grissom. She looked up at him, her eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"_Yes_ Nick? How can I help you?" she asked with a sharp tone in her voice. Nick gave Grissom a 'what did I do' face and Grissom shrugged. Sensing that he was not needed, Grissom told Sofia he was going to head to his office and proceeded to walk away.

"You're not working with Griss on this case." Sofia looked at him as if she had already known.

"Oh, okay. Let me guess, I'm helping you with your case?" Nick was taken aback at how she knew, and it showed on his face. "Ecklie already told me," she told him.

"Oh, that makes sense." Nick scratched his head in embarrassment. "Well, um, we have some fingerprints that we need you to run through the files."

"Is that all?"

"Well, that's it for now. We still have to wait for her tox screen to come back but I'll let you know as soon as I do." She smiled and turned to walk away. Nick caught her rolling her eyes as she turned and made a choking motion while she wasn't looking.

Nick walked back to the lab where Warrick was looking over a print they had gotten from the two shoes. He had determined that one pair was a size 10 men's dress shoe but he was having difficulties with the other print.

"I just don't get it. The men's shoe was easy, just an Armani size 10, but this one…I just can't tell." Warrick slammed his palms on the desk in anger.

"When Catherine gets back tomorrow we'll ask her. She knows about shoes, trust me." Warrick chuckled a little.

"Hey, where is she anyway?" Warrick tried to sound as casual as possible.

Nick looked though the paperwork sitting on the desk as nonchalantly answered him. "She took the day off. Said she had some personal business to take care of with Lyndsay. I think it had something to do with her mom questioning her parenting abilities."

"How do you know all this?" Warrick's voice was becoming louder than he wanted.

"Dude, are you trying to accuse me of something? Look, Cat and I are just friends, okay?" Warrick looked down and shook his head.

"I'm sorry man. It's just…you and Cath have been spending a lot of time together and she hasn't been talking to me that much. I don't know, I guess I jut thought she wasn't comfortable talking to me anymore." Nick playfully socked his friend in the shoulder.

"Dude, you're like her best friend. You have nothing to worry about." Warrick gave a slow nod.

"Yah, I guess you're right."

"Sara, can you come here for a minute?" Grissom called from the living room where he was inspecting some blood traces that had shown up with luminol (not sure if it's spelt right). Sara walked out of the blue kitchen and into the burgundy living area.

"Yah, what'd you get?" Grissom pointed to the shoe prints that were clearly visible on the beige rug.

"I looked at James shoes after finding foot prints in Melissa's room. He's a size 9. Look at these; you can see a visible size mark, size 10. And over here," he pointed to another print with a much different sole, "this one is a size 9." Sara's eyes opened a little and she looked Grissom straight in the eye.

"There were two people involved in this." Grissom nodded.

"I compared my shoe to the size 10 because I'm the same size, no match. This is a woman's shoe." Sara took a photo of the print and marked the shape and size on a piece of paper as he talked.

"Do you think he was having an affair?"

"Well, it can't be ruled out and it's certainly imaginable. This guy did so much to his wife that cheating on her isn't to far fetched."

"Yah, but why would he want to take Melissa? I mean, if he was beating her you would think he would just take off rather and take her with him." Both sat in silence for a minute pondering the thought. Sara found herself staring at Grissom as he sketched one of the other prints. She noticed how his lips were slightly parted as he focused and how his eyes were squinted to see details, causing crows feet to show up in the corners of his eyes. She even took time to study his beard, something that was not only unusual, but not something to be done on the job.

Sara jumped as she heard her cell phone ringing in her pocket. Grissom broke his focus and looked at her as she answered, taking a mental photograph of her in his mind. His mind was his sanctuary, the one place he could trust with his feelings, but even sometimes his sanctuary would betray him and he would slip up.

"Sidle." It was a simple answer but one that she felt was wearing out.

"Sara," Greg said on the other line, "I checked those blood swabs you got for me and…this is weird."

"Greg, stop beating around the bush and just tell me."

"Okay," he said very strained. "I checked the blood of the mother and daughter and…the DNA doesn't match." Sara floundered for a moment.

"What are you talking about Greg?" Grissom noticed her face and her change in tone and suddenly became interested.

"What I'm saying is Heather is not Melissa's mother."

"Well that's great," Sara said in unmistakable sarcasm. "Now we have a missing child with a mother that we never knew was missing." Sara could almost feel Greg smiling on the other line of the phone.

"That's where you're wrong. I tested all the swabs of blood that you found at the scene and one matched Melissa's. So that means, Melissa's real mother was there." Sara's eyes nearly bulged out of her sockets and her mouth hung open. She mumbled something that sounded like goodbye and hung up. Grissom stood up and walked over to her.

"Heather isn't her mother?" he asked.

"Yah. But apparently her mother was here. Greg matched Melissa's DNA with that of a sample we picked up here. Melissa's mother helped in the kidnapping."

"That would explain the shoe print," he replied, a little taken aback. Sara decided she would talk to Heather about it later since she was currently staying with a sister an hour away.

Sara noticed a blood drop on the wall near a closet to the right of the cough where Heather had sat just the day before in tears. She took out her fingerprinting dust and tested the doorknob, visible prints showed up. After taking down the prints she tried opening the door but it wouldn't budge.

"Grissom, can you help me with this?" she asked, obviously having difficulties with the stubborn door. Sara watched intently as he stood up from his kneeling position and walked over to her.

She stepped aside and let him take hold of the door. After a few moments of pulling and grunting the door swung open. With it's sudden fling it scraped the side of Grissom's forehead. A piece of loose metal fell from the doorframe and as Sara tried to stop it from hitting Grissom she wound up getting a large, but not deep, cut on her cheek and a deep gash on her palm where she caught the metal, forcing it into her skin.

"Oh God, Sara." Grissom frantically searched for a towel. He finally found one in the kitchen and ran back to where she was standing, whimpering in pain.

As the towel touched her hand she let out a weak scream, the cut was deep and went from in between her thumb and index finger all the way across her hand. She looked up to Grissom and saw that he was watching her also. Their eyes met and for a moment she saw fear in his blue eyes.

"Griss, you're cut." Sara used her left hand to wipe away the blood that was trickling from just above his left temple. Her fingers tingled at the touch of his skin.

"It's nothing, really. Yours is worse, you need stitches. Why did you do that anyways?" he asked after a brief moment of silence.

"I didn't want it to hit you." Her reply was calm and cool. There was no trace of the fear that had been running through her mind as she saw the metal flying towards him.

Grissom tied the towel around her hand and used it as a makeshift band-aid. Even though the cut was extremely painful, Sara couldn't help but love the attention Grissom was giving her. They had spent the past few months ignoring each other but ever since that night at her apartment when she told him about her past, things had just gone back to normal.

Once she was bandaged they looked in the closet. Sara let out a small gasp and Grissom's mouth fell open just a little.

"I think we need to have a talk with Heather." Sara shook her head, agreeing with Grissom's comment.


	3. Unanswered Questions

Disclaimer: Do I have to go over this again? If I owned CSI blah blah...forget it. Long story short, I would be spending all my quality time being dehydrated 'cause of all the drool that would be lost over George Eads (Yum) and William Peterson (so sue me for liking an older guy). And even though I do not own the characters, I do own this story so I'll do what I damn well want with them so take that (sticks out tongue). I think we've basically established that I like denying reality and doing what I damn well please. Ends Rant 

**Oh, before I forget, I would like to dedicate this chapter to **Duckyv91 **for giving me an awesome review!**

… … … … … … … … … …

Chapter Three – Unanswered Questions 

Warrick stood in the autopsy room watching Doc Robbins work on their dead woman. He had already discovered that besides being shot twice in the head, she was shot four times in the back. He removed the bullets and placed them in a jar for Warrick to take back to Sofia to process.

"So doc, which bullet do you think killed our vic?" Warrick watched as he pointed to the hole right above her left eyes.

"This one did it. The bullet hit a major artery causing severe blood loss. But this one," he pointed to one in her chest, just under her collarbone, "this one was a great help. Cut some arteries but not enough to cause substantial blood loss. But, mixed with the trauma in her head, it lead to her death." Warrick let out a whistle.

"Dang, she had a painful death then." Just then Nick poked his head into the room and called Warrick out. He had something to show him. Both walked down the hall and into a lab where Nick was doing a trace on the vic.

"I thought he vic looked familiar but this was a shock. I ran her through trace and looked who popped up." Nick turned the screen so Warrick could read her stats.

"Name is Brittany Coulson. Age, 30; height, 5'7; weight, 125 pounds…" Nick pointed to the bottom of the screen.

"Look where she works." Warrick scanned the screen until he found what he was looking for. His mouth opened a little and his eyes widened.

"Occupation: Lab Technician for the Las Vegas Crime Lab." Warrick was silent for a moment. "She was one of our lab techs."

"Yah, not just 'a' lab tech, _the_ lab tech that was supposed to be working the prints and DNA for our case. When I read the name she sounded familiar but I couldn't match the vic's face with the name. That was because someone cut her hair. I looked at it through the microscope and saw that the ends were cut in one swift motion and definitely not by a professional."

"Like they were hiding something?"

"Maybe. But here's my problem. Sofia said Ecklie had told her that Brittany had called in sick and didn't know how long she would be gone."

"Do you think someone was stalking her?" Nick looked at the photo of the girl on the screen.

"It makes sense. But we have no idea who. She was new here and had barley any friends, at least none she would trust to tell. So basically we have no leads. This is going to be a long case." Warrick nodded. Both sat in silence for a moment before a thought popped into Nick's head. "Hey, did you have Catherine check out the shoe print?" Warrick sighed, pulling up a chair to sit on.

"I tried asking her earlier but she mumbled something about stress and her mother being a bitch, that was all I got. She took off down the hall and I haven't seen her since."

"Yah, apparently her mom is considering talking to child services and requesting that Lindsay live with her since Cath spends so much time here. Hopefully she won't but she's supposedly thinking hard about it." Warrick threw his hand in the air.

"How is it that you know this and I don't?" Warrick was getting frustrated but Nick sensed the sound of hurt in his voice.

"Warrick?" Nick asked cautiously. "This isn't just about you thinking you're losing a friend, is it?" Warrick was silent. "You like Catherine, don't you?" Warrick slumped his head and let out a long, desperate, sigh.

"Yah, I have for about a year now. I'm surprised no one noticed." He took a pause. "I'm surprised she didn't notice…" Warrick let his sentence linger so that it may sink into Nick's head.

… … … … … … … … …

"Mrs. Scott, you have a lot of explaining to do." Grissom opened the closet door for Heather to see. When her eyes feel upon the site she looked away in shame.

"I have no idea what that is," she replied defensively. Sara felt her burning anger grow inside of her. She clenched her fists in anger bit let out a whimper of agony. Her cut had just been stitched the night before and was still tender. She smiled a little as she remembered how Gil had sat in the room with her as she was stitched.

"You know damn well what that is Heather so don't give us this 'I don't know' bullshit!" yelled Sara. Grissom caught her gaze and she tried to calm down. She took in a deep breath and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Heather, you've lied to us once, don't do it again, it's only going to get you in even more trouble." Heather sat down on her couch. Grissom followed but stood in front of her while Sara sat only the glass coffee table next to him.

"I don't know what you mean. I never lied." Heather continued to deny their gaze.

"Bullshit." Heather looked up at Sara, surprised at the harshness in her voice. "You lied the other day when you said James hit you while you were pregnant."

"He did!" she yelled defiantly.

"_No_ he didn't, because you were never pregnant." Sara once again noticed that her temper was rising out of control. Heather's breathing stopped for a moment. She looked dead ahead but not focusing on anything. Sara and Grissom both noticed the tears skimming her eyes.

"Heather, we tested the DNA and DNA doesn't lie. You are not Melissa's biological mother. You lied to us. And I have a feeling you're lying to us now. You know very well what's in that closet." Grissom knelt down to face her. "Because you put it there, didn't you Heather. You put those chains in there. You put the belts in there, all varying in thickness depending on how mad you were and how much you wanted to hurt her." Heather forced her eyes shut as tears streamed down.

"I did nothing of the sort!"

"Yes you did Heather. You forgot that when you would hit her with the belts, not only would your fingerprints get onto them, but her blood would also get onto them from the seeping wounds. The lab is testing the blood and fingerprints and when they come back you can't lie because it's all in the evidence… But you didn't just chain her up and hit her in there, did you?" The room was filled with silence at Sara's question. "No, you would leave her in there in the dark. She was three and, judging by the numerous night-lights in her room, she was _terrified_ of the dark! There are hundreds of nail marks on the door where she tried to _claw_ her way out!" Sara's voice rose, emphasizing certain words.

"Why would I want to hurt my daughter?" she screamed.

"She wasn't your daughter. I think you couldn't handle the fact that she wasn't yours. I think James took Melissa to get her away from _you_." Heather began to shake at Sara's accusation. While her tremors continued she refused to speak. After an hour of probing with no comments out of her, they told the police to take her into custody until further notice, and left.

"This is bullshit Griss!" Sara screamed as she flung down on the couch in his office. He closed the door and sat at his desk.

"I know, but until the prints from the belts come back from trace we have no proof. And even if she did beat Melissa, all that means is that she's a liar. We can't rule out James until we find Melissa." Sara covered her eyes with her hands as she sighed.

"This is bullshit, you know that right?" Grissom smiled a little.

"Yes, I know that." There was an almost comforting silence. "Sara?" Grissom said after a few moments.

"Yes Gil?" She sat up, noticing the untraceable tone in his voice.

"How are you holdin' up? I can sense you're uneasy on this case but… Just remember, if you feel you can't handle it I can take you off the case. Don't feel like you can't talk to me about this. I just don't want you jumping to conclusions because of your past." Sara looked into his misty blue eyes and smiled. She stood up and knelt down beside him, taking his hand in hers.

"Grissom, trust me, I wont screw this up." She stood up and let go of his hand, noticing how it was making him uncomfortable. "I think my history with this type of case is what makes me work harder to find the facts. But if I need anything, I'll tell you." Sara walked out the door, giving Grissom one last look, just to mess with his head a little.

Grissom leaned back in his chair and took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes as he fought off the nagging voice in the back of his head. He knew he was getting too close. First the hand incident and now this. He let out a sigh of relief when he heard a knock at the door. By the way the person on the other side didn't wait for him to answer he knew it was Catherine.

"What are you doing here? It isn't your shift yet?" Catherine sat down in the chair across from Grissom.

"Eh, I'm having problems with my mom and didn't feel like dealing with the shrews nagging voice in the back of my head. Thought I'd come hear, get some work done."

"Yah. Sara and I were just thrown a loop in our case." Catherine's eyebrow raised questioningly and Grissom could tell it wasn't about the case. Catherine shifted slightly in the chair to seem more casual.

"Speaking of you and Sara, what was she doing in here just a minute ago? She left with a pretty smug smirk on her face."

"Taunting me," he replied without skipping a beat. Catherine chuckled a little.

"I can understand why. Grissom, when are you gonna pull your head out of your ass and just admit that you have feelings for her?" Grissom scoffed at the question.

"Cath, it's not that simple."

"Why is this so hard for you?" she asked in genuine concern.

"I have a job, I'm her boss, I'm 15 years her senior… A relationship with Sara would never work. Plus, I'm emotionally detached, remember?" Catherine leaned in a little.

"So does that mean you do like her?" Grissom, who was sifting through the mounds of paper work on his desk, looked above the rim of his glasses at her, never directly moving his head up.

"Catherine, don't go there." His voice was warning and told her to back off. She plopped back in her chair and sighed.

"Well, if you're going to be such a tight ass, how about we go out for some beers? On me." Grissom looked up and sighed. Deciding he had nothing better to do he reluctantly agreed.


	4. A Woman Never Tells

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own anyone or anything or for that matter I own  
nothing that has to do with CSI what so ever BESIDES this story. Which in  
reality isn't really CSI because it's not owned by CBS so…uh forget  
that last thought. I didn't say (or write it, which ever pleases ya!  
wink wink) you saw nothing, got it? Damn any of you people who own George  
Eads or William Petersen (shoot me cause I think an old dude is hot) or even  
Eric Szmanda. Once again I will deny your "Normal Peoples" (yes I understand  
that was politically incorrect but those people who do choose to correct me  
can go dress in tutu's and do the funky chicken for all I care) thoughts on life and how it should be lived and substitute my own.**

**I would like to dedicate this chapter to **GeekLoveFan, a.k.a. Holly **for writing an amazing story that, sadly, came to an end. Good luck with your pregnancy! And if you ever do read this…wow! It would mean I'd have a celebrity reading MY story. Dang!**

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

**Chapter Four - A Woman Never Tells**

"Is it just me or is Sofia the biggest bitch in the world?" Catherine asked as she walked into the locker room where Warrick was.

"Wow! You're actually talking to me!" Warrick said in mock surprise as he pulled off his gray wife beater and threw on a plain black t-shirt. Catherine sat down on a bench and leaned forward, resting her head on the cool metal of her locker.

"I'm sorry Warrick. Just…so many things have been going on with my mom lately and with this case leading us no where I have barley enough time to sleep." Warrick looked at her with burning eyes.

"Yah, well you had enough time to talk to Nick. And you had enough time to go and get tanked with Griss last night. But you don't have enough time to talk to me; I thought we were best friends Cath!" Warrick slammed his locker shut and silently chastised himself for yelling at her. She looked up at him with tears brimming her lids.

"I told Nick what was happening because he was the only one that seemed to care!" Catherine made sure her tears did not flow; it was too out of character for her to cry. Instead she put on her bitchy armor. "And I went out for beers with Gil because he's going through a lot of hell right now and I felt he needed someone to talk to. Do you have any idea how far up his ass his head is? I thought I'd help him out with that!" Catherine's voice was loud. Nick, who was walking past the locker room on his way to see Sofia, stopped at the sound.

"I'm sorry, okay? I just…I thought I was losing a friend. Is that so wrong?" Warrick sighed and sat down next to Catherine.

"Warrick, you should know me better than that. You've just seemed so distant lately." Both sat in silence for a while.

"Um, Cath, you're good when it comes to women's shoes, right?"

"Warrick, you know me better than that."

"Okay, I'll take that as a yes. Well, Nick and I were looking at the print we got from the scene and we can't identify it. It had a strange pattern that we think might depict what brand it is but we're not sure." Catherine sat up, lending out a hand for Warrick, which he happily accepted.

"Lead me to it." Warrick led her down the hall into the room where the print was. Catherine pulled up a chair and looked at it with a magnifying glass.

"Okay, well I can see that it's a size 8 ½ and…" She looked a little closer. "It's a Prada pump, round toe with spiked heels." Catherine looked up to Warrick smiling.

"What are you so happy about? Other than the fact that we now know what shoe we're looking for. The killer could have easily thrown them away."

"No, no, no. I'm smiling for two reasons. One, these shoes are very costly, running in the thousands. I bought a pair a few weeks ago. Anyone who would throw these away is insane. And two, they only sell these in one store in Vegas." Catherine gave Warrick a smile in which he returned.

"And that would be?"

"The Prada store in the _Paris_ casino. All we have to do is find out who bought this pair. And judging by the wear and tear on the bottom, these are about three months old." Warrick's eyes grew wide and he engulfed Catherine in a warm hug.

"Cath, you rock!" Warrick, without realizing what he was doing, gave Catherine a quick peck on the lips. Catherine looked at him in shock and he looked back mortified.

"I have to go." Warrick quickly ran out of the room, never looking back. Catherine stood in the doorway, watching him take off down the hall.

… … … … … … … … …

"Grissom!" Sara yelled, walking into Grissom's office. She had called his name three times already but he wouldn't respond. With the way his head was resting in his arms on the desk she thought he might be asleep.

"Ow! Don't scream so goddamn loud!" Grissom sat up quickly, holding his head in agony. Sara was surprised at how he cursed. She hadn't heard him use fowl language in a long time.

"Griss, what's wrong?" He leaned back and sighed, trying to release some of the pain that was shooting through his head.

"Hangover I guess. Catherine and I went out last night and got…drunk as hell. I really shouldn't have had all those Sam Adams and Jack Daniels."

"Aww, poor baby." Sara laughed and was surprised to see Grissom actually smiling.

"Sara, how's you hand doing?" Grissom took her hand and looked at it.

"I guess it okay. Thanks for being there with me in the room. It hurt so bad and I think I would have lost it. You're such a good friend Griss." Both were silent for a moment. "I guess I screwed things up a while ago. But I'm glad we got back to being friends. We both got our lives back. I mean, I'm thinking about asking out Greg and…well, you asked out Sofia for dinner so I guess our private lives are back in check."

At the mention of Sofia Grissom froze. He looked up at her with the classic Grissom blank face. There were two things he was worried about. How had she known about that and what had Sofia been telling people? But then it dawned on him what she had fully said. She was going to ask out Greg. She was going to ask out _Greg_. The thought ran through his mind a million times.

Even though she was pretending to be looking at Grissom's bug collection, Sara was secretly watching his expression out of the corner of her eyes. She knew bringing up Greg would tick him off and Sofia was the icing on the cake. She had heard her talking to another lab tech a few weeks before about it.

"Sara, nothing is going on with Sofia and I. She has a boyfriend. She refuses to tell me who but she does. And about you and Greg," Grissom took a gulp, swallowing his pain, "I have no problem with that. I do believe I told you this when you were dating Hank but I'll tell you again. Even you have the right to a personal life." Sara looked downcast. That was definitely not the reply she had wanted from him. She opened her mouth to say something when a teenager, probably seventeen, knocked on the door.

"Are you Gil Grissom?" he asked in a squeaky voice, as though he was just going through puberty.

"Yes," he replied. The boy, wearing a badge that said Jonathan, walked in with a vase of lilies.

"These are for you." The boy set the flowers down and walked away. Grissom looked up to Sara with his eyes raised, only to see that she was looking through the glass walls at Sofia.

"Who are they from?" she asked, still not looking at him.

"No name. All it says is: _I've secretly watched you from afar. Hopefully someday my affections will be returned and maybe I'll even be able to tell you to your face but this is all I can do for now. Love, You'll Know In Due Time._ I wonder who that is." Sara looked in interest.

"Well, they smell nice. Bit I have no idea who here likes you." She tried to ignore the quick, almost nonexistent glance Grissom gave her. "That's weird." Grissom looked at her face, ruling her out as a sender.

"I guess I have a secret admirer."

"That you do Grissom." Sara watched him look at the flowers, playing with the pedals in his fingers. She felt a ping of anger at who ever sent him the white creations.

"Um, Sara, do you know if Greg has finished with the DNA testing yet?" Sara slid off of Grissom's desk where she had been sitting and stood up.

"I get it, I can take the hint Griss. Hmm, maybe while I'm there I'll ask him out. Or should I wait till after the case. I mean, I wouldn't want my personal life to affect my work. Then again, I wouldn't want to become emotionally inept. What do you think Griss?"

She knew what she was doing. She was rattling his cages. She wanted him to feel the hurt that he made her feel. Only after she spoke the words did something new dawn on her. What if he couldn't feel the same hurt because he truly didn't feel the same way? What if what she mistook for flirting was truly just Grissom being a good friend? Then the most horrifying thought came to her mind. Sofia may not love Gil, but what if Gil Grissom…loved her?

"I think you should do whatever you want Sara." Sara was brought out of her thoughts at the sound of his voice, his always-calm voice. "You have the fearlessness to go after whatever you want." Sara nodded and turned to leave.

Resting her hand on the doorframe she spoke one last sentence before leaving. "Not everything Grissom…" and then she left, leaving him to think about what she said.


	5. Uncomfortable

**Disclaimer: Once again we've already established that I do NOT own anything  
from CSI (Those of you that do, I don't want to hear it cause it'll make me  
cry.) Hell I'd kill for a USED pair of latex gloves from the show. Yes I do  
understand that I am obsessed. I wish I owned those two hunky CSI's George  
Eads (Drool) and William Petersen (Overdrive Drool. Shoot me cause I think  
an old guy is sexy. While you're at it you can shoot my buddy Woody27 cause  
she thinks David Caruso is hot. **Coming from Woody27: Mega Drool**.) And if you  
have any problems with me, you can take it up with my agent...if I had  
one. Alrighty then. NOTE TO READERS: this chapter was written under the  
influence of rock music and diet Pepsi.**

**Dedication: Okay, this chapter is dedicated to my BESTEST friend EVER **Woody27**. She edits the story when I'm don't writing the chapters and tells me if I did anything wrong. Not to mention that she's the one that got me into CSI by sitting me down on VALENTINES DAY and making me watch 10 hours of CSI! **

**Just remember, if you give me a good review you have a VERY good chance of getting a chapter dedicated to you so…review!**

… … … … … … … … … … … …

**Chapter Five – Uncomfortable**

Not only was Warrick avoiding Catherine, he was hiding from her like a puppy who had pissed on the carpet and knew it was wrong. That kiss hadn't been meant to happen; he had liked it, who wouldn't? But he never thought it would happen the way it had. The look on her face was that of pure shock. The look on his face was that of pure fear. To put it simply, he was amazed that he hadn't shit his pants when it happened.  
"What did I do, what did I do?" Nick walked in on Warrick who had been repeating the same sentence for the past hour that shit had been over. Nick had already gone home but when he had called Warrick after shift and gotten the machine, he figured he should try work. He had noticed Catherine and Warrick acting funny and wanted the dish.  
"Dude, what's up with you? Gone insane or something?" Warrick rested his head in his hands and shook it rigorously.  
"I kissed her man. I kissed her! Do you know what that means?" Nick smiled and patted Warrick on the back.  
"Yah, it means you finally took your head out of your ass." Nick paused for a moment, ignoring the look Warrick was giving him. "Hmm, maybe Grissom should take a hint or two from you." Warrick couldn't help but smile along with Nick.  
"Dude, you might want to careful saying that. It's after our shift and into his. He might overhear you or something." Both laughed for a minute and then decided it would be best to go home and get some sleep...after having a few beers though.  
The next day Warrick arrived to work early, around 3:30 P.M., so that he could get started on work early and not have to deal with Catherine's protruding questions. He was not surprised to find Sofia already hard at work. He decided he might as well check up on her and see how things were coming out with the fingerprints.  
"Have we got any matches yet?" Sofia, who had been focusing hard on whatever she had previously been doing, jumped at the sound of his voice.  
"What are you doing here? You shouldn't be at work yet. You know you really can't just sneak up on people." Warrick noted the defensive tone in her voice.  
"I just got to work early, that's all. Look, will you just tell me what you've got so I know what I can go off of today." Sofia sighed out her tension and tried to stop her hand from shaking due to shock.  
"Um, nothing was usable. Everything was smeared, I tried touch up but it was beyond repair." Warrick opened his mouth to speak when Nick, who had just walked in, spoke up.  
"That's impossible! I checked those prints, they were all usable!"  
"You think I can't do my job! You have a look at them. They were all smeared." Nick looked with the magnifying glass at the prints and saw that they were all smeared beyond digital repair.  
"This is insane! Someone had to have tempered with evidence!"  
"Why would someone due that?" Sofia yelled defensively. "You better not be trying to pin this on me Nick. I heard you bad mouthing me the other day. If you're trying to get me demoted even more you better think again. I don't feel like losing my job Nick! It's the only thing I have!"  
"Whoa, calm down girl! I didn't mean that. Look...we'll just have to go back to the scene and collect new prints. The scene hasn't been opened to the public yet so it shouldn't be that hard. Don't worry Sofia, give us a few hours and we'll have something for you to do." Nick gave Sofia a playful wink before he and Warrick took off down the hall.  
"Dude, what are you doing here? Work doesn't start for another fifteen minutes." Both walked into the break room until Cath showed up so they could tell her what happened.  
"Thought I'd come early and get some extra work done. Guess you had the same thought." Warrick nodded.  
"Did you notice how defensive Sofia was? It was a little out of character."  
"Yah but I'm guessing she's still holding some tension in about getting demoted." Warrick nodded silently.  
"Yah, that would make me pissy. But man, she sure does have some attitude. You'd think she wouldn't be this jumpy."  
Both sat in silence for a while. They waited until Catherine showed up ten minutes later. Warrick made sure to avoid her gaze and she mimicked his actions to a tee. What had happened may have not been what she was expecting, but his reaction was more surprising than anything. She had always had the suspicion he liked her but the look on his face told another story. A story that she was sure would leave her with nightmares for months.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Grissom was on his way back to the lab. He had gone to see Heather at the police department for questioning but she had canceled, claiming her sister had become ill. He figured back at the lab he might get a chance to talk to Sara while Greg processed the evidence. Sadly, when he got the lab someone was already helping Greg process the DNA, and that someone just happened to be the person that had consumed his mind for the past 10 years.  
She was looking over his shoulder. He saw her move her head up slightly, obviously taking notice to him walking down the hall in their direction, but quickly shifted it back down. Her hand rested lightly on his shoulder and then started running her fingers through his hair, twirling it between her fingers.  
"So Greg, I was thinking, do you want to go and get something to eat tomorrow after shift? You know…like a date?" Sara asked the question just as Grissom was turning the corner into the lab. He quickly walked back, hoping to all God that they hadn't seen him. Luckily Greg hadn't.  
"Um, okay. That sounds nice. This is so weird…I always thought you had a thing for Grissom. I'm shocked that you're actually asking ME out. Then again," he said in the usual Greg, cocky, attitude, "how could anyone resist my charm?" Sara flirtatiously laughed, putting on a better show than the local Las Vegas Showgirls at the Flamingo. It truly made her sick to be playing Grissom this way.  
"Greg, did you match the DNA yet?" Grissom asked, finally deciding to make his presence known.  
"Oh, hi boss, um, yah. The DNA on the belts matches that of Melissa and Heather. You know, at first I was thinking maybe the closet was just a sex room, you know, dominatrix type things. But I highly doubt they would include their three year old into sex games. Not to mention that no fingerprints or DNA from James was even found IN the closet. I'm thinking you were right with the theory that she was taken for her protection." Greg paused to ponder his thoughts. "I guess I was hoping we would get top visit Lady Heather again. You know, I'm still pissed that I've never met her Grissom. You've seen her more than enough times. Even a few off duty if my memory serves me right." Sara looked wide-eyed at Grissom who was too bust glaring at Greg.  
"Heather and I were friends, nothing more. And I really would enjoy it if you would stay out of my private life Greg. What I did with Heather was none of your business." Greg put his hands up.  
"Hey, I'm just saying, I wouldn't mind spending my off days with a dominatrix. Sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. Can I ask you something Grissom?" Greg leaned in a little closer. "Did you use the liquid latex?" Grissom glared at Greg but as he was about to open his mouth to give a more than rated R retort, Sara grabbed Greg by the arm.  
"Greg lets go. I want to check out more of the house and you haven't had any time there to process the scene. What's the point of being a field investigator if you don't get to actually be ON the field?" Sara stood in the hall, out of earshot from Grissom.  
"Greg, how about you go and wait in the car? I just have to talk to Grissom real quick. I'll be out in a minute." Greg nodded and walked down the hall as Sara stood in the doorframe, looking into the DNA lab.  
"He had no right to bring Heather up," Grissom said, tight lipped. "He makes her sound like some kind of street walker when she is so much more. She's more than just a dominatrix!"  
"More to you?" Grissom looked up at Sara who was looking at the floor. "You know what, never mind. Look, I agree that what Greg said was wrong and I'm gonna talk to him about it."  
"That doesn't make it any better."  
"I know…"  
"Um, I heard you ask him out. I'm happy for you." Sara forced a smile. Grissom outwardly smiled, inwardly threw a table against wall.  
"Yah… it's weird. I guess almost everyone in the lab is hooking up. According to Nick, Catherine and Warrick shared a little kiss the other day. I was wondering when it would happen. And Nick is dating this girl Rachael; she's actually really nice. I met her a few months back when they were just friends. She has a real sarcasm to her but it fits her perfectly. She's a total self-proclaimed tomboy."  
"Hmm, that's nice."  
"Yah. And now I'm going out with Greg tomorrow and you…well, whatever is going on with you and Sofia."  
"I told you, Sofia and I are just friends. She has a boyfriend."  
"You know what, forget I said anything. I always jump to conclusions with you. I should have figured you two weren't dating, you're too emotionally detached." Sara turned around and walked down the hall in an angry huff. She knew her words were mean, but it had to be said…so it was.


	6. Not Everything Is Work Related

**Disclaimer: Okay, once again I must say that I do not own CSI, if I did William Petersen and George Eads would be locked in my bedroom and we would be…..playing cards. He he he. So sue me for liking William P. Like they say, a man is like a fine wine, it's best with aging. LoL. At least that's what my parents say. Hmm, maybe I should tell them to stay out od the liquor cabinet. Anyways, this chapter is freaking hilarious if I do say so myself and has nearly nothing to do with the cases. It's mainly just about their personal lives, hence the title. Anyways, this chapter was written under the influence of Dr. Pepper and The Who's, **Who Are You,** which Woody27 burned for me. THANK YOU RACHAEL!**

**Dedication: I would like to dedicate this chapter to George Eads for always being hot and sexy on screen. You have NO idea how that makes me feel. LOL. Anyways, ON WITH THE STORY!**

… … … … … … … … … … … …

**Chapter Six – Not Everything Is Work Related**

Catherine ran up to Warrick just as he was heading out the door to his car. She wanted to talk to him in private, without Nick ogling them. She grabbed him by the sleeve of his blue and green striped shirt and turned him around to face her. He looked at her with sad eyes as they stared at each other for a moment.

"Warrick, I need to talk to you in my office." Warrick nodded and followed her into her office and sat down as she pulled down the blinds to cover her windows.

"Catherine, do we have to talk about this? Can't we just…forget it ever happened?"

"No Warrick, we can't. Look, I wanted to talk to you because…I wanted to know how you feel. For a while I thought you liked the kiss and then…every time I see your face you look sad, like you did something wrong. You're confusing me and I just want to know here and know how you feel." Warrick leaned his head back and let out a deep sigh.

"I don't know Cath. Yes, I do feel something when I'm around you. But you're my boss! I don't know what to do. I just don't want to turn into Griss and Sara."

"Yah, I can understand why you wouldn't want that. Griss got tanked the other night, explaining to me everything that was going on with them. But anyways, Warrick, why should it matter that I'm your boss? There's no policy that forbids it."

"Wait! Hold up a minute here. Are you saying you want to date me?" Catherine smiled, placing her high-heeled shoes on top of her desk.

"Why yes I am Warrick. I thought you were smarter than that. Has Grissom taught you nothing? It's all in the evidence." Warrick chuckled slightly at the thought of his ex-boss. Catherine leaned over her desk, going in for a kiss, when Bobby knocked on the door and entered moments later.

"Catherine, sorry to interrupt," he obviously didn't know what was going on, "but I just did a check on the bullets you recovered from the vic and, this is where it gets weird, it's from one of the guns we use." Catherine's expression was blank, " What I mean by that is…whoever the killer is, either knew a CSI here or_ is_ a CSI here." Catherine shot up, placing her hands firmly on her desk.

"What? Are you positive?" Her voice was loud and flustered.

"Yah, I'm sure. Just about a month ago they changed the bullets that we carry. No CSI's knew about it, it was just like a tracer I guess. There have been many reports of dirty cops and CSI's so they decided to do this. All the CSI's bullets have engravings on them that say _Las Vegas CSI_, well at least if you're stationed here." Catherine fell back into her chair.

"So that means that we have a dirty CSI here?" asked Warrick.

"Yah. That or someone stole the gun from a CSI. Either way, it narrows the search down a little."

"Yah, and it's the only real evidence we have now. Thanks Bobby. You've been a huge help." Catherine forced a smiled as Bobby left.

"This is big Cath."

"You bet it is. You need to go. Go with Nick and get those prints before the site opens back up again." Warrick nodded and got up to leave. Just as he reached for the door Catherine grabbed him and turned him around. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. It felt nice. She hadn't had a kiss in close to six months and this was just perfect.

"That was nice."

"Ya, you're not that bad a kisser 'Rick. Oh, when you get back with the prints, leave them for Greg to process when he gets back from his night off. I'm sure he'll have time to do it. I'm just not that comfortable with Sofia. I have to stay into Graveyard shift to talk to Griss anyway, I'll make sure he takes care of it." Warrick nodded and left the building, wondering why Cath hadn't wanted Sofia to process the prints.

… … … … … … … … …

"Greg, what you said to Grissom yesterday was kind of harsh." Sara looked across the table at her date. They had come to a bar in the Rampart on Greg's recommendation.

She had dressed in a flowy, faded green skirt that went to just above her knees. Her top was a black peasant girl top but only covered one shoulder. The slant in the top went from her right shoulders to under her left arm, exposing her left shoulder. Her hair was straightened and she had on a little make-up but not much.

"I know. I was just trying to rattle his cage but I should have figured he would take it the wrong way. That guy needs to learn how to take a joke." Greg laughed, his eyes crinkling for a moment. He had dressed nicely also. His shirt was button down, striped in different shades of blue. His pants were dark blue and faded. His shoes were just a pair of black Vans with the white V symbol on them.

"Yah, I know what you mean. When he and I first met, about 10 years ago, he was nice. He knew how to laugh and even cracked a few jokes himself. But when he called me back 5 years ago after the Holly Gribbs shooting, he just changed somehow. He's so stiff and protective…it's just unnerving to see him so different from the way I first met him." Greg took notice to the distant look Sara had in her eyes as she spoke of him.

"You and Griss were good friends back then?" Sara smiled, her eyes glazed over.

"Yah, really good friends. I _wish_ I could say I don't know what made him change but…the sad truth is I _do_ know." Greg looked at her, urging her to go on. "Our feelings just…changed. I grew feelings for him and…he felt the same way but he couldn't give up his career for them."

"How do you know that?"

"I heard him telling that to Dr. Lurie in the interrogation room almost a year and a half ago."

"You mean from the Debbie Marlin case?" Sara nodded. "Wow! I never knew Griss could get so personal." Sara sadly smiled. When she looked up she saw Greg's eyes almost shooting out of his head. She looked over her shoulder to where he was staring. She quickly turned around and took a long swig of her beer.

"What is he doing here?" Greg sat up a little more and took a better look.

"Looks like he's having a few drinks with Catherine. I guess we all took advantage of our night off. Man, and he's already chugged down quite a few Jack Daniels. He's going to be paying for that tomorrow."

"Why is going out for a drink again? He just went out with Cath the other night for a drink. Got wasted too."

"Hmm, maybe had more to vent about. He's talking pretty fast over there. I'm glad I'm not Cath; she's probably having a hard time understanding him with all that alcohol in his system." Both chuckled a little. Suddenly a thought popped into Greg's head. "Sara, we're at a bar where there's a dance floor that we have yet to take advantage of. Would you care to join me for this dance?" Sara smiled and took his hand.

"I would love to Greg." Both headed out to the floor where _Louie the 14th's_, Finding Out True Love Is Blind, was playing. Sara started laughing as Greg started doing the Funky Chicken preceded by the Sprinkler.

"Greg stop it, you look like an idiot!" Sara said through laughs. "Greg, stay right here, I'll be right back. I just have to get loosened up." Sara headed back to the table where she proceeded to down her bottle of Sam Adams and finish Greg's shot of Tequila, all while having Grissom in plain view. She ordered another Sam Adams and downed it before heading back out to the dance floor with a buzz.

"Yah, you're getting into it Sara." Greg laughed as he danced with a, now drunk, Sara. Both were jumping up and down to Girls, Girls, Girls by _Motley Crue_.

"I need another drink," Sara said, accept it was a lot more slurred.

She walked up to the bar, making sure to walk past Grissom. She ordered a shot of Tequila and when she was done with that shot she gulped down another. Grissom watched her in horror but was too inebriated to do anything about it. Cath had already passed out on the table so Grissom was unable to leave her. Instead he watched Sara and hoped he would sober up.

Her and Greg flopped around on the dance floor to _The Who's_, Who Are You, a song Sara had once said reminded her of their line of work. _"The song consistently asked 'who are you' and as a CSI that's something we're always asking,"_ she had once said to him as Greg blasted the song throughout the lab. Greg spun her around as they both laughed in intoxication.

Then it got to the slow part of the songin the middleand Greg wrapped his arms around Sara's waist as she wrapped her arms lazily around his neck. Grissom felt a flame of anger rise in his chest at the way Greg was looking at her. The flame nearly turned into an explosion when Sara leaned up and Greg pressed his lips to hers. It only lasted a moment before Sara pulled back and stared at him dazed. The song was almost non-existent as Sara climbed on top of the table and yelled at the top of her lungs, " I just wanted everyone here to know that I am drunk! _And_," she said as though it was a second thought, "I am in love with Gilbert Grissom. Thank you, g'nite!" She then passed out, into the arms of a wide-eyed Greg.

Grissom stared with open eyes as she did this, wondering if his inebriation was playing tricks with his vision. Right before she had fallen she had made direct eye contact with him, signaling that she knew he was there. His mind was full of confusion now. She had kissed Greg but then said she loved him. He passed it off as her being drunk but the thought never left his mind for one minute that night.


	7. Like Nothing Ever Happened

**Disclaimer: I am not in any way making profit from this flippin' story so  
blah. If I was making money, I'd be signed with a publishing company and  
wouldn't be wasting my time here writing fan fictions. Even if you were gonna  
sue me it wouldn't be worth it 'cause it would take more money to sue me  
than you'd get back from me. But if I did have money, my first purchases  
would be William Petersen (Hotness) George Eads (Mega Hotness) and Eric   
Szmanda (Adorable lab rat). And I'd pick up some chips and dip for the wild  
party we'd throw. hehehehehehhee. I take pride in denying your reality.**

**Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to William Petersen. 1) because he's hot. 2) Because not that many people are giving me that great of reviews. Some people don't like getting reviews but I'm 14, I NEED something to brag about! So, Billie, this chapie is for you.**

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**Chapter Seven – Like Nothing Ever Happened**

When Nick and Warrick walked into work the next day they were greeted by the sight of a more than hung over Catherine sitting at her desk, head in hands. The lights were turned off and she had her blinds pulled, blocking out the light from the lab. She let out a groan of pain as they opened the door and walked in.

"Remind me to never go out drinking with Gil ever again. I can't handle another hang over like this."

"Will do," Nick replied, his smiled a mile wide. Catherine took notice and sighed before asking.

"What's got you so perky? Rach finally lay you?" Nick rolled his eyes and placed a plastic back on Cath's desk.

"When we went back to the crime scene we found Brittany's cell phone in the bottom of the dumpster. We figured we could print it and check out the recent calls. Oh, and Warrick and I got some more prints and made sure to drop them off for Greg, even though we don't know why."

"That's my business and you'll know soon enough. For now, lets just say she's pissing me off." Warrick and Nick exchanged glances and got up, taking the cell over to dust for prints.

After dusting the cell only to find Brittany's prints on it, they decided to check the records. Nick carefully went to the cells menu and wrote down all the numbers she had previously called. Most of them were labeled with absurd names. Instead of labeling the number for the Crime Lab as Work, she labeled it The Hell Hole. One label kept popping up, My Boy Toy, and Nick figured this was her boyfriend.

"Warrick, look at this. My Boy Toy, think it's her boyfriend or her father?" Nick asked with his newfound sarcasm that his girlfriend Rachael had instilled in him.

"Just check it man." Nick dialed the number and waited a moment. Warrick heard the person on the other line pick up but couldn't hear whom he introduced himself as. Within seconds of the other line picking up Nick quickly hung up.

"Dude, what's up? Who is it?" Nick looked at Warrick with wide eyes.

"I think we just solved who Ecklie's girlfriend is-was." Warrick stepped back and covered his mouth as he made a sound of disgust.

"Aww, that's wrong! At first I thought it was hard to believe Ecklie had a girlfriend, but now this! Man, he's always getting on everyone for dating a CSI and here he's doing it behind our backs. Man, when Grissom and Sara hear about this they're gonna flip. Grissom gonna get on him so bad." Nick's face went blank.

"Dude, the bullet that killed Brittany was from a CSI. Do you think it was Ecklie?"

"Naw, Ecklie cares too much for his job to do anything like that. Plus, he would have been more careful to clean up. I'm betting it was one of his friends. Maybe someone who didn't like her that much." Nick nodded in agreement. Both headed back to Catherine's office to tell her.

"Cath, prepare to be jealous. We know a bit of gossip before you."

"I find that hard to believe." Catherine looked at the pair with interest. Nick took out the cell phone once again and placed it in front of her.

"We know who Ecklie's girlfriend is-was. Sorry, I keep saying that. Brittany was dating Ecklie. We think one of his friends might not have liked her and stole Ecklie's gun to kill her."

"We don't even know if it was Ecklie's gun, Bobby hasn't figured that out yet."

"I thought he already figured out it was from here."

"Yes, but there's a serial number that every CSI was registered and that number was placed on the bullets. Bobby is still trying to figure out who it was registered to." Catherine stopped for a moment and questionable looked back at them. "Did you just say that Brittany was dating Ecklie?"

"Yah, Nick called the number registered as My Boy Toy on her cell and Ecklie picked up." Catherine looked away in disgust.

"Aww, that's not right. I can't imagine anyone calling Ecklie their 'Boy Toy.'"

"Yah, tell me about it." Catherine looked up at Warrick with mischievous eyes.

"But I can imagine calling you my boy toy." Catherine stood up and forcefully pressed her lips to Warrick's, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Aww, that's not right." Nick quickly left the room as both Warrick and Catherine flew into hysterics.

… … … … … … … … … …

The car ride to Heathers house was a quiet one. Both Sara and Grissom were coping with the after affects of the pervious nights inebriation. Sara remembered full well what she had said and was hoping to god that Gil didn't…but he did.

After ten minutes of silence Sara finally couldn't take it. "Griss," she looked at him and saw he was looking back. His eyes were pleading with her not to bring it up. "Um…why are we going to Heathers house again? Why can't we just take her in for questioning at the police station?"

"She refuses to go and Greg is still working on getting a warrant for her arrest." Sara winced at the mention of Greg's name.

"Gil, I really think we should talk about last night."

"And _I_ really think we should focus on our work, not what we do when we're drunk." Sara felt her cheeks grow warm.

"You heard me, didn't you?"

"Yes, but you were drunk so I don't take it seriously." Sara slowly nodded.

"Oh, okay. That's good… Um, Griss, are you going to chastise me for this later or are we gonna let the whole thing drop?"

"I…I think we should let the whole thing drop." Sara nodded once again.

"Well, um Griss, " she said, perking up, "I don't think we should. I mean, why not get this all out in the open." Sara shifted in her seat to face him. He looked back at her, parking the car in front of Heathers house in Henderson.

"Sara…I don't know what to do about…this." Both Sara and Grissom had a flashback to right after the explosion when Sara had asked him to dinner. He had said the same thing then. Sara felt tears skimming her eyelids at the thought.

"Umm, okay then. Let just…go." Sara hoped out of the car and walked up the steps to the door. She waited for Grissom to get to her before she rang the bell. Sara took a closer look at the sand colored house while they waited. At closer inspection she noticed that the paint was peeling and the wood on the patio was rotting from the recent summer rain.

"Hello Mrs. Sidle and Dr. Grissom." Heather had a smile on her face but Sara saw something in her eyes that scared her, she just couldn't place her finger on what exactly it was.

"Mrs. Scott, you do realize the charges that are being placed again you right?" She sweetly smiled. Sara felt that it was almost sickly sweet. "Look, your prints were on every one of the belts in your closet. Melissa's blood was on every belt as well. James DNA was no where near that closet which leads us to believe he took her to protect her from you."

"Then how do you explain the cut on my head?"

"Simple, you put up a fight when he tried to take her."

"Look, I did nothing of the sort." She crossed her arms across her chest and stuck her nose in the air.

"Heather, do you mind if we look around some more?"

"Certainly not Dr. Grissom. You go right ahead." Sara headed outside to grab her kit, which she had forgotten to grab on her way out of the car.

_I don't believe this. He's still confused about all of this. I can't believe him! Maybe it's time for me to move on. No, I can't to that…I love him; I can't just change how I feel. I mean, he obviously doesn't love me enough to put his job on the line, he made that _very _clear way back with Dr. Lurie._

Sara grabbed her kit out of the trunk but it slipped from her fingers onto the sidewalk. She knelt down to pick it up when the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She looked back up at the house and saw that the door, which she had left open, had been slammed shut. She quickly ran up to the door and tried to open it but it was locked.

"Grissom! Gil, are you okay? Someone open this door!" She looked in the small window neck to the door and, even though the curtain had been pulled shut, she saw through a crack that Heather was holding a gun to the back of Gils head.

"_Grissom_!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.


	8. Sudden Truths

**Disclaimer: okay, I don't own CSI, yadda yadda yadda… If I did why the heck would I be writing this cheap ass story? Anyways, this chapter is pretty good. The Catherine, Nick, Warrick case will lead you to think one thing but trust me, there's much more. The Grissom and Sara fiasco from the last chapter sort of gets solved but I still leave you with a HUGE HUGE HUGE cliffie! Please don't flame though, cliffhangers are what I do best.**

**Dedication: this chapter is dedicated to **KCEstel **for writing a hilarious review! I was on the floor laughing my a off! And I agree, it is** **wrong that Ecklie has a girlfriend but it makes a huge twist that I've been planning since the beginning.**

**On, for this chapter you might have to go back and re-read chapter four. Just warning you. But it's only so something in the Catherine, Nick, Warrick case makes sense if you forgot about it. Okay, I'm gonna go now.**

… … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**Chapter Eight – Sudden Truths**

Warrick cautiously knocked on Catherine's door, his new girlfriend had her head resting on her desk and the lights were turned off. Paperwork was piling up and Catherine had purposely neglected it. With the trauma at work with the Brittany case, her newfound romance with Warrick, and family issues going on with Lindsay...well, she was downing coffee faster than Grissom and barley getting two hours of sleep a night.

"Cath, we need to talk." Catherine groggily looked up at Warrick. Her face was blotchy and her eyes were red. She had obviously been crying.

"Catherine, what is going on with you and Lindsay?"

"What are you talking about? Nothing is going on." Her eyes were heavy and her voice was hoarse.

"Catherine, I know Lindsay ran away last night. She came to my house looking for somewhere to spend the night. She mumbled something about you two getting in a fight and crashed on my couch. What the hell is going on?" Catherine slapped her hand to her forehead.

"I come home from work and she's sitting on the couch. I ask her what's up and she just goes off on me, saying I don't love her and how she wished Eddie was still alive so she could go live with him. I told her I did love her and she flipped out even more saying the only thing I loved was my work. Then she took off out of the house saying she'd go stay with someone she at least liked. I thought she'd go over to one of her friend's house. Why you?"

"I don't know. She comes to me a lot though. A lot of times she'll come over on my night off for dinner. It's weird when she just shows up but…I like it. It's nice having someone else around the house." Catherine smiled and wrapped her arms around Warrick, resting her head on his chest for a few minutes.

"You're so good with her Warrick. Maybe I should come out and tell her we're dating. I mean, I don't think she'd care, and it might put me on her good side." Warrick chuckled and hugged Catherine closer.

"Don't worry about it Cath, she'll get over it in no time. And I agree with you, we should tell her. We should tell everyone. I mean, Nick knows but…maybe we should all go out to dinner one night that way Greg and Sara and everyone know."

"That's an awesome idea Warrick! I'll have to see when we all have a night off." Warrick nodded. "Okay, well, I have to go check with Sofia and see if she got anything from those new prints."

"Yah, you know, it was a good idea to give one set of prints to Greg and one to Sofia. Nick and I checked and none were smeared so she should have something."

"Yah, that's good. Well, see you later." Catherine leaned up and kissed Warrick, almost losing her composure for a moment.

Catherine was walking down the halls when she heard an infernal clicking noise. She stopped and looked around but it stopped. She started walking again when she heard the clicking get faster and louder. She looked back again and saw Sofia running over to Nick who was drinking a cup of coffee. They seemed to get into a small argument before Sofia walked off in a huff, back to her lab. Catherine walked in the direction of Sofia's lab and stood in the doorway. She looked down and saw the source of the clicking.

"Sofia, those are some…nice shoes. Costly huh?" Sofia looked down at her soft pink Prada pumps with lime green stitching and a pink bow to the side.

"Umm, yah. About a thousand dollars. I've been saving for a while now to get them." Catherine wore a smirk on her face.

"Yah, I have a pair just like them but instead of pink and green, mine are teal and green. Lindsay picked them out for me, she knows how much I love Prada. Umm, about how long have you had them?"

"About three months, why?" Catherine's mischievous smirk grew wider with every word that came out of Sofia's mouth.

"Just wondering. About what size are you? Eight? Eight and a half?"

"Eight and a half. You know Cath, you're starting to freak me out over here. What's the point in all this?"

"Oh, well I was thinking of buying some for a friend of mine but I wasn't sure if they had eight and a half. You got them at the _Paris _casino right? I got mine at the _Bellagio _a few months back but they stopped selling them." The last comment was a lie but Sofia would never know.

"Yah, I got them at the _Paris_. Well, I hope they still have them but…uhh, do you have any other reason for being here?" _Only to nail your ass,_ Catherine thought.

"Oh, I was just wondering if you matched the prints to anyone?"

"Nope, not yet Cath. They were just partials so they might not find a match." _Yah, I bet they wont by you. But I'm positive Greg will find something._

"Okay, well bye Sofia." Sofia never looked up from her work, just shifted her head slightly. Catherine walked out of the lab with a VERY satisfied grin on her face.

… … … … … … … … … …

Panic gripped Sara as she watched Heather hold the gun to the back of Grissom's head. She slammed her fists against the door but it wouldn't budge, it only dented. She saw Grissom turn his head a little so she could see his face. Heather was furious that he had moved and put the gun closer. Sara saw a panic stricken Grissom mouth the words, 'Get out of here.' Tears filled his eyes.

"Grissom! No, I won't leave!" Sara ran back to her kit, which still lay on the sidewalk and picked it up. When she got back to the house she forcefully flung it at the window. The window shattered, allowing Sara to climb though.

"You broke my window you bitch!" Heather took the gun away from Grissom's head and pointed it at Sara.

"Why are you doing this?" Tears formed in Heathers eyes as she began to cry.

"Because all I want is Melissa back. I only hit her because…because of that bastard. He cheated on me. Me for Christ's sake! What did I ever do to him? He goes off with his friend from college, Lillette something, and when she has the baby James takes her, saying Lillette is an unfit mother. And what does he do, he pushes the girl right into my arms."

"Why would you hit her though?" Sara's voice quivered, the gun was still aimed at her face. Her eyes were glassing over with tears that soon spilled over.

"Because she wasn't mine! She was that bitches daughter, not mine, why should I be the one to take care of her?" Grissom was frozen in place, his eyes never leaving the gun. The look on Sara's face when the gun was to him chilled him to the bone, and now that the gun was pointed to her, he was sure he looked the same way.

_Why is this happening? How come every time I convince myself I might actually be over her something always happens that draws me back in? Why do I care for her so much? None of this makes sense! Why can't I let her go, things would be so much easier if I didn't love her! _

"Heather, please put the gun down. Please? We can talk this all over. Just don't hurt Sara. _Please_ don't hurt her." Grissom approached her with a pleading face full of love but once again the gun was back on him.

He saw Sara lunge forward and grab hold of the gun. Both her and Heather wriggled around trying to take the gun. Sara's face was turning red at the force she was using to take the gun but Heather wouldn't budge. Suddenly there was a shot followed by and eerie silence. Both had wide eyes as they slid to the floor. Someone had been shot, but whom, Grissom didn't know.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**Yah, I know, that was mean but I have to live up to my nickname. Back on the RFR Fan Fiction boards I was known as the Queen of Cliffies. I like writing them, they get you more reviews. Oh, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far, it means a LOT to me. Your reviews are the reason I write. LoL! Well, more to come soon.**

**Oh yah, before I forget, **shadowspider101**, wacha think? You're close, so very close! But not quite there yet.**


	9. Well, Now You Know

**Chapter Nine – Well, Now You Know**

Catherine had a smug look on her face all day. She was positive she had solved the case; she just needed to get the results back from Bobby confirming that the bullets were from her gun. She also needed to get a warrant so she could take Sofia's shoes and test them for blood but it was a simple task. As she walked down the halls she saw Warrick and ran up to him, planting a kiss on his lips before spilling her evidence.

"We got her! Dear God Warrick we finally got her! No more Sofia, no more Sofia, no more Sofia!" Catherine playfully twirled in Warrick's arms.

"What are you talking about?"

"Sofia did it. I know she did, she had the same shoe prints that were found at the scene."

"Cath, we got the results back from Greg, the prints don't match Sofia's." Catherine came to a screeching halt. Her face was deadpanned.

"What?"

"They came back as…Ecklie's. I know it's weird but…this is just confusing me so much. I mean, Ecklie would never do this, he loves his job too much to let it all go down the drain."

"Could they have been planted?" Warrick looked at the case file.

"I don't think so. Usually you can tell when prints are planted and these show no signs."

"Well, has Bobby gotten back the bullets? Maybe that will straighten things out."

"I don't know, lets go see." Both started walking down the hall to Bobby's lab. Half way there Catherine grabbed Warrick's hand and interlocked their fingers. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hey Bobby, you got the serial number back yet?" Bobby sat at his computer searching the database.

"Yep, just got the results and you will not believe it. The shots to the back were from Ecklie's gun. He never reported it missing so…"

"What about the shots to the head?" Warrick asked.

"That's where it gets even weirder. Those are from Sofia's gun. And she didn't report hers missing either."

"So that means we have two murders on the field but not motive. Why would Sofia and Ecklie do this to poor Brittany? I mean, Brittany dated Ecklie so there's your connection but Sofia? What's she got to do with any of this?" As the words flew from Warrick's mouth Catherine remembered something Grissom had said to her before she had passed out at the bar the night they got drunk.

"_I do like Sara, I really do. But she thinks I like Sofia, which is so not true, but because of it she asked out Greg. I mean, Sofia has a boyfriend for Christ's sake, not that she'll tell me who he is or anything."_

"Oh my god," Catherine slowly breathed out. "She's dating Ecklie! He was dating both at the same time! That's why she was there!" Both Cath and Warrick looked at each other and let out a noise of disgust.

"That's just wrong! That is one mental image that I definitely don't want sticking around. Anyone got some soap?" Warrick asked. His face was riddled with disgust, horror, and nausea.

"That's gross! I feel like I need to take a 4 hour shower."

"Yah, I'll join you on that." Both Cath and Bobby looked at Warrick confused. "I meant the shower sounds like a nice _idea._ I wasn't actually gonna join you." Both Warrick and Catherine had left the room.

"That's sucks," Catherine leaned up and whispered in Warrick's ear, "Because I was hoping you would."

… … … … … … … … … … … …

Grissom felt his heart move from his chest to his throat as he saw the source of the blood was Sara. Heather had passed out when the gun fired so Grissom easily moved her. He quickly got out his cell phone and called Brass, telling him to get there as soon as possible with a medic.

"Sara, Sara please wake up! Sara, just open your eyes. Please Sara? Just let me know you're okay." Grissom propped up Sara and held her hand in his. Tears were welling in his eyes as he watched her just lay there unconscious. "Sara, please wake up? I don't want you to go." He choked out. "Sara, please, please just squeeze my hand if you can hear me? Sara, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I acted that way to you but I need you to wake up. Please, we need you." Grissom quickly let go of Sara's hand and spun around at the sound of movement behind him.

"Aww, how touching, you love her. Don't you?" Grissom inched back until he hit a wall. He was once again pointing down the barrel of another gun. He hadn't expected Heather to have to many. He silently chided himself for leaving his gun in the car on the day that he would actually need it.

"Y-yes, I do. Please, please don't shoot. Let me help her. Please, you have to understand…"

"I don't have to understand anything. James hurt me so I'm gonna hurt you. You just don't get it; you don't know what it's like to love someone and not have their feelings returned. It's like someone took your heart out and stomped on it over and over. I loved James and I told him that every day, but every day I knew he didn't feel the same. I tried to kill myself so many times it wasn't funny anymore. He was my own _husband _and he_ still _didn't like doing a simple thing just as going out to dinner with me. You have no _idea_ what that's like." Grissom looked past her to Sara.

_No, but I bet I know someone who does know._

"Heather, please put the gun down. I can't make James love you, I'm sorry. Sometime…people hurt other people without realizing it. They toy with someone's heart and more comes out of it than intended. Look, hurting Sara and I isn't going to make up for what James did." Heather gripped the gun tighter, her knuckles turning white.

"Yes it will. I never meant to hurt her but you…you need to be taught a lesson. I see the way she looks at you. And I see the way you toy with her. She loves you and you are blinded by your insecurities to admit it. Grissom, I'm a therapist, reading people is my job. I can tell how you are and how she feels. She's just like me and you…you are just like James." Grissom felt his stomach lurch as the realization that Heather did in fact know how to read people due to her job.

"Put the gun down now!" Both Grissom and Heather's head turned to the voice of their resident homicide detective, Jim Brass. Three police officers stood next to him and two EMT's gathered Sara who was trying hard to hold onto consciousness.

"No!" Heather shouted. She angrily turned back to Grissom. Her eyes were thin slits and they left Grissom with a feeling of horror. Her thin eyes were the last things he saw as two loud bangs filled the room and Grissom felt an enormous pressure in his stomach and left arm, right under his collarbone. The room started to spin and grew darker every second until he saw nothing.


	10. Capture

**Chapter Ten – Capture**

Catherine, Warrick, and Nick casually strolled into the interrogation room where Sofia was sitting. Her blue eyes were beady and ran over every inch of the room. Her face was somewhat calm but her eyes gave away a sense of fear.

"We got you. It's all over." Catherine didn't have a note of empathy for her co-worker.

"What are you talking about? And why am I here?" Her blonde hair was pulled into a tight ponytail, pulling her skin back in a makeshift face-lift. Her make up was soft, as were her clothes. Her soft pink cotton blouse and a wavy black knee-length skirt gave her a look of professionalism.

"You helped kill Brittany Coulson. You and Conrad Ecklie that is."

"That's absurd!" Sofia stood bolt upright and slammed her hands on the table. Her knuckles turned white as her face turned red. "I did nothing of the sort!"

"Prada say's you did. As did the bullets retrieved from Brittany's body."

"How could you possibly pin the bullets on me? And what _about_ my shoes?" Catherine explained to Sofia what Bobby had explained to her just days before.

"And those shoes, their the only size 81/2 sold from the Paris casino in the past three months. You bought the last pair of that size that they had in stock and they decided not to get any more. And, what looks to be ketchup on your shoes should easily prove to be blood." Sofia's face turned pale and her mouth parted a little. "Oh, and Greg matched the prints found at the scene to you and Ecklie. That's why they prints were 'smudged;' you were smearing them."

"H-how did y-you k-k-know that?" Her stutter was heavy and heard to understand.

"Simple; the evidence told us. Now all we need to know is why. Remember, the first person to talk gets a deal." Sofia's eyes roamed the room looking for something, anything, which would help her. When she found none she let out a deep sigh and shook her head in disgust at herself.

"It's not like we planned it or anything. Look, Ecklie started dating me after he was already seeing Brittany. She got pregnant and told him she would have an abortion, no questions asked. That was about two months ago. In that time he also got me pregnant also. I did as he asked and got the abortion. Well, the night that Brittany was killed she saw he and I hanging out in the Luxor. She went flipping psycho and started saying how she was carrying his baby and asking how he could do this to her. He calmed her down and got her into his car and drove out to the spot. I followed in my car." She paused, her expression blank.

"That's when we did it. She flipped out; started cursing and saying she was going to get him fired for tampering with evidence. You know Ecklie; he's in love with his job more than Grissom is. He couldn't let that happen so…he shot her in the back. He spun around and grabbed my gun and shot her in the head, his ran out of bullets. That's what happened, I swear." Catherine, Warrick, and Nick exchanged looks. Catherine focused back on Sofia and bent over the table, firmly planting her hands on the table.

"Well that sucks because…Brittany wasn't pregnant. She did have the abortion." Sofia looked back and forth at all of them before breaking down into a shudder of tears. Sob's raked her body as she was cuffed for being an accomplice and taken away.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Sara's eyes groggily opened to the sight of white. Pure, torturing, white. As her eyes adjusted she saw that she was lying in a hospital bed, the sheet next to her was pulled, separating the room. She let out a moan as pain flooded to her shoulder. From the next curtain over Catherine and Warrick, followed by Lindsay, rushed over to her.

"Sara, it's okay, just don't move. God, we're so happy you're awake." Catherine had tears in her eyes. They were red, but not from crying, it looked to be from lack of sleep.

"How long have I been here?" Her voice was hoarse and Catherine had to strain to understand her.

"About a week. You were shot in the shoulder. But Brass got Heather and she's going away. They found Missy; she was with her father in Reno. He had tried calling in to the police to tell them that Missy was with him but somewhere the paperwork got lost. Typical."

Catherine chuckled and Sara tried to but wound up coughing. Sara looked to Warrick and saw something unsettling in his eyes, what thought she couldn't determine. Suddenly a thought struck her and she looked with wide eyes back and forth from them to the curtain next to her. Catherine and Warrick noticed this and gave each other nervous looks.

"Sara…"

"What happened to Grissom?" Her voice was demanding rather than questioning. Catherine and Warrick shared another uneasy glance. Lindsay, who had been quiet the whole time, left the room in search of the restroom.

"Sara, maybe we should wait."

"No! I want to know now!" She cringed at the pain that filled her throat.

"It's okay, I'll tell her Cath. Sara, after you got shot Grissom was trying to protect you when Heather came after him. He was holding her off until Jim got there. Heather freaked and…shot him twice. Once in the shoulder, just below the collarbone, and once in the stomach. He's labeled in critical condition. He's what's on the other side of the curtain." Sara's eyes were blank and unblinking for several moments. Her throat closed and her eyes glassed over. She looked at the curtain and then to the ceiling to avoid the gaze of her co-workers.

"Sara' it's okay…shh, it's okay," Catherine whispered to her crying friend while holding her trembling body in her arms.

"I should have been there to protect him. If I hadn't lunged at Heather she never would have shot me and I would have been there to protect him. How could I be so stupid!"

"Sara, it wasn't stupid. You did what you felt was right. He's doing fine. Even got a bouquet of flowers from some secret admirer. Really weird. And Nick and his girlfriends came to visit. That Rachael is something else. Totally sarcastic and defiantly tomboy with a slight girly side. Plus, you know Griss, a small thing like this wont stop his from coming back to…"

Catherine was cut off when a loud beeping noise came from over the curtain and loud thuds filled the room. Doctors rushed into the room and over to Grissom's bed. Sara froze and just stared. She knew what was happening. His heart stopped and they were trying to revive him. Sara sat bolt upright and tried to get out of bed but both Warrick and Catherine had to hold her down as a nurse came over and put some sleeping medication into her IV.

The last words Sara said before drifting off to sleep were, "If he goes, I go…"


	11. Rachael is a Godsend

**Chapter Eleven – Rachael is a Godsend**

Catherine was sitting in Warrick's lap, arms wrapped around his neck as she watched Sara's body tremble every few minutes in her sleep. Warrick was asleep, his warm breath hitting her neck. Catherine never felt more sorry for Sara. It was times like these that Cath's maternal instincts kicked in and made her want to look out for the younger CSI more than ever.

Catherine stood up and walked past the curtain into Grissom's section of the room. The bed was empty; it almost seemed eerie. He had been in surgery for the past six hours now and they said it would probably be a while longer. He had severe internal bleeding that they hadn't noticed before. He was bleeding from three different spots, all of which were hard to get too.

Catherine was lost in her own little world when she heard a tap at the door. She turned around and saw Nick standing there with Rachael glued to his arm. Catherine was once again stunned at the blonde standing in front of her. She always thought Nick when for a different type of girl but this just proved that it's the personality that counts.

Rachael's long, natural blonde hair was wavy and air-dried. Her skin was a light peach with faint freckles and her gray-blue eyes that looked like a cobblestone street were her most attractive feature. Her face was somewhat plane and thin, good cheekbones though. Her grass green Ezekiel t-shirt was baggy and seemed to fall down to mid thigh, where they met up with her tight jeans that showed off her toned legs from step class. Her style was defiantly…out there.

"Hey Cath, we heard what happened to Griss. How's Sara doing?"

"She'll be fine. They gave her some pretty strong sleeping medication though. Knocked her right out. Crack dealers would pay good money for that stuff." Both Nick and Rachael chuckled.

"I'm sure everything will work out. From everything Nick's told me they seem like a pretty strong pair." Catherine smiled at Rachael. The girl had never even met the two yet she already had a good grasp on things.

"Hey Cath, Has Greg been here yet?"

"No, why?" Nick snapped his fingers in displeasure.

"Dang, we were hoping we could set him up with Rachael's friend Trina. She's just like him."

"You mean insane?"

"Exactly!" Rachael chimed in. "She saw a photo of Greg one time and is now head over heels. As much as I like to torment her, she's been my best buddy since eighth grade and I have to do SOME nice things for her. Not to mention that she hooked me up with my first boyfriend." Nick cringed a little. Just then they all heard something from outside the door.

The doctors came in, wheeling Grissom right along with them. All three ran to his side. The doctor explained that the surgery had been a success but that he would have to stay in the hospital for another few weeks to heal. Catherine sighed in relief along with Nick. Rachael had this blank look on her face as she watched Grissom get wheeled in.

"So that's Grissom?" Rachael's voice was almost monotone. Her face looked green as soon as she saw the blood soaked bandages. Nick notice and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in closer to him.

"It's okay Rach, it's just a little blood."

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Rach ran out of the room, hand over mouth, and into the restroom.

"Well, I guess she's never going to become a CSI."

"Nope. Hey Nick, what does she do anyway? And how did you meet her?"

"She's an engineer. But only part time. She also has a small shop on Freemont Street where she and her friend Trina sell their art on the weekends. I met her at a club actually. She's not really into it but her friend Trina, or Katrina, dragged her to it along with her friends Corinne and Rachel. And yes, they are both named Rachel, just spelt differently." Just then they heard a moan from the next bed. They rushed over and saw Sara sitting up staring at her hands.

"I want to see him. I know he's back so just let me see him." Catherine just nodded and opened the curtains. When Sara saw Grissom lying there she felt her stomach churn.

"Sara, it's okay, he's going to be fine. It was just a little internal bleeding, that all. He's going to be fine." Sara's body kept trembling with tears. Rachael walked back into the room and saw what was going on.

"Cath, why don't you let me try something." Catherine figured it couldn't hurt and she and Nick left the room but kept their ears on the closed door.

"Hi Sara. I'm Rachael, Nick's girlfriend. Look, everything's gonna be okay. You had a little scare back there but trust me, when you love someone enough they won't leave you. You truly love Grissom and from what I've heard, he loves you too. A few months back Nick was held at gunpoint and I was terrified. I seriously thought I would loose him. I was more scared of that than I am of spiders." Rachael cringed a little and Sara let out a small laugh. Rachael smiled at that. "You just have to believe that everything will be okay. If all you ever think about is what could happen you'll never think about what is happening. Okay?"

"How…why did you do this? Why help me when you hardly know me?"

"Because you mean a lot to Nick and he mean a lot to me. Seeing you in pain hurts him and I can't stand to see him in pain." Both were silent for a moment. "Well, that was very mushy. Damn, that Nick is worse than Prozac. If Kat saw me like this she'd slap me over the head with a cinder block." Sara laughed once more.

"Kat? Who's she?"

"Oh she's my best friend who Nick and I are trying to hook up with Greg."

"That sounds like fun. Wow…thanks Rach, you've really helped."

"Yah, yah, yah, just don't let Nick know I was this nice."

"Promised." Rach and Sara crossed pinky's in a childish version of the pinky swear. Just then Nick and Catherine walked back in with Greg trailing behind them.

"So this is Greg, man will Kat flip!" Greg started at the overzealous blond quizzically.

"Let me guess, Rachael?" Rachael took Nicks hand and nodded proudly.

"Hey guys, I think maybe we should let both Sara and Griss get some sleep. Well see them tomorrow." All headed for the door. Rachael was the last to exit. Just as she was about to take off Sara called her name.

"Rachael, thank a lot. You really helped."

"No prolemo kiddo." With a little wink and click of the tongue Rachael left.


End file.
